Humidifying apparatus.



W. H. CARRIER. HUMIDIPYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED D170. 31, 1900.

mama Sapt. 27, 1910.

2 BHE ETBSHEET 1.

W; H. CARRIER.

HUMIDIFYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION rum) DEO.31,1909.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fay. 2.

WILLIS H. CARRIER, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO BUFFALO FORGE COM-PANY, 0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

HUMIDIFYING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIS H. CARRIER, a citizenpf the United States,residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Humidifying Apparatus, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates more particularly to improvements in apparatusused for humidifying the air in factories and other build- 7 ings whereit is necessary or desirable to independently control the conditions ofhumidity in diflerent rooms irrespective of the temperature in therooms.

The apparatus embodying the invention comprises a primary source ofsupply of saturated or humidified air and one or more auxiliary devicesfor supplying moisture to supplement that furnished by the saturatedair, when this is necessary, the apparatus being primarily intended foruse where the supply of saturated air from any cause is inadequate tosufficiently reduce the temperature and raise the humidity to the pointrequired or where an excessive humidity is desired. Sufficient moisturecan thus be supplied to give the required percentage of humidity withoutnecessitating a corresponding reduction in temperature.

One object of the invention is to produce an efficient and desirableapparatus for this purpose which can be installed at a moderate expense,is economical in operation, and is adapted to supply air of likehumidity to the several rooms of the building or to operateautomatically to add humidity to the air supplied to any particular roomor rooms I as may be required in order to obtain a predeterminedcondition of humidity in such room or rooms independently of theconditions existing in the remaining room or rooms.

Another object of the invention is to pro duoe a humidifying head, ordevice of improved construction adapted to supply sat-urated air at apredetermined temperature, either without free moisture or ladened withwater in a finely attenuated or atomized condition for supersaturatingthe air, depending upon the humidity required.

These objects are attained by placing in the several rooms of thebuilding auxiliary humidifying heads or devices which distribute in therooms uniformly humidified air supplied to them by a humidifier commonSpecification of Letters Patent. Patgntgfl Sept, 2'? 11914), Applicationfiled December 31, 1909.

Serial No. 535,739.

to all of the auxiliary devices, and which auxihary humidifiers areequipped with devices controlled independently by hygrostats located inthe several rooms for commingling atom zed or finely pulverized waterwith the discharging humidified air.

In the accompanying drawings, consisting of two sheets: Figure 1 is adiagrammatic sectional plan of an apparatus embodying the invention.Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of the auxiliary humidifying devices. Fig.3 1s a sectional elevation thereof. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section, onan enlarged scale. thereof. I

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the several figures.

Referring first to Fig. 1, A A A represent auxiliary humidifying headsor devices located in the rooms 1, 2 and 3 of a building, and Brepresents a humidifier for saturating air with water and su plying itto the several auxiliary humidif ymg devices A. The construction of theauxiliary humidifying devices A is hereinafter described.

The humidifier B, shown in the drawings, comprises a spray chamber 6; ablower o for drawing external air through the chamberand delivering thehumidified air through branch pipes or conduits b b b to the severalhumidifying devices A; nozzles or devices I)? for spraying water intothe air in the spray chamber 6 for saturating the air; and an eliminatorbtconsisting of spaced zig-zag plates for separating the free moisturefrom the air. The spray water is circulated by a pump C from acollecting well or basin in the-bottom of the spray chamberthrough asteam water-heater a back to the spray nozzle. The temperature of thespray water is regulated so that the saturated air leaving thehumidifier will be kept at a predetermined constant temperature by athermostat D which is influenced by the temperature of the saturated airand controls the flow of compressed air from a reservoir E through pipese and e to a valve F which governs the supply of steam to the waterheater so as thereby to heat the spray water more or less to maintainthe temperature of the saturated air constant, as required, by reason offluctuations in the temthe saturated air could be kept constant in otherways, but it. is desirable that this should be accomplished in one wayor another, because by saturating the air at a constant ten'iperaturethemoisture contents of the humidified air are kept uniform.

Each of the auxiliary humidifiers A, which are alike, preferablycomprises, as shown in Figs. 2%, a tubular shell or body having openflaring upper and lower ends, an air supply duct H which has a flaringopen discharge end it arranged opposite to and spaced from one end ofthe body G, a deflector I arranged between the adjacent ends of the bodyG and the air duct H, and one or more spray nozzles K for moistening airwhich is caused to circulate through the shell and commingle with thesaturated air discharged from the duct H. The air duct H, which ispreferably arranged above the shell G, is connected at its upper end toone of the supply pipes for saturated air leading from the humidifier B.The deflector- I can be supported between the adjacent ends of the airduct and shell in any suitable way, for instance, by straps 2'connecting it to the lower end of the air duct, and plates 2' connectingit to the upper end of the shell G. The deflector preferably has a.conical body and an annular rim '5 which extends substantiallyhorizontally outward from its conical body above the edge thereof,preferably beyond the flaring lower edge of the air duct and not quiteas far as the edge of the flaring upper end of the shell G. The conicalbody and horizontal rim of the deflector cause the saturated air to bedischarged substantially horizontally outward in all directions, beneaththe lower edge of the air funnel, and the conical body of the deflectorextending below the horizontal rim thereof forms a drip edge from whichthe water from the spray nozzles K striking the deflector will drip backinto the flaring upper end of the spray shell. Thus the spray waterwhich is preferably directed upwardly toward the deflector, is preventedfrom being thrown out into the room, and at the same time the air whichis circulated upwardly through the shell G and is discharged through thespace between the upper end of the shell and the deflector, is caused topass through the water dripping from the drip edge of the deflector,which insures a thorough moistening of the air. Two spray nozzles K areshown in the device illustrated, but any desired number and kind ofnozzles adapted to thoroughly wet the air can be employed. By arrangingthe nozzles to discharge upwardly, as shown, the discharging spray actsconjointly with the saturated air discharging from the air duct toinduce a circulation of theair from the room in which the device islocated upwardly through the shell G.

L represents a drip pan or basin support ed below the lower end of theshell G by straps l secured to the shell, or by other suitable means.

WVater can be supplied to the spray nozzles K of the auxiliaryhumidifiers in any suitable way. As shown, the pumpuG is connected bypipes at m m m to the spray nozzles of. the several auxiliaryhumidifiers, and pipes n a a and n connect the drip pans of theauxiliary humidifiers with the collecting basin of the main humidifierB, so that the same water can be circulated and used over and overagain.

The supply of spray water to the several auxiliary humidifiers isindependently regulated by valves 0 in the spray pipes controlled byhumidistats 1 1n the apparatus shown, the humidistats control the actionof the valves 1" through the medium of compressed air passing from thereservoir E to the valves for the several auxiliary humiditiers. throughpipes p p and 19 The humidistat for each auxiliary humidifier is locatedin the room with said humidifier, or otherwise, so that its action isdependent upon the condition of humidity in the room. If the saturatedair discharging from the duct H is alone suilicient to maintain thedegree of humidity for which the humidistat is set, then the valve 0will remain closed and shut off the spray and no water will be added tothe saturated air, but if the saturated air does not give the requireddegree of humidity, the humidistat will cause the valve 0 to be openedto spray water into the auxiliary humidifier. The spray water, as beforeexplained, will moisten the air of the room, which is caused tocirculate up through the shell G of the auxiliary humidi fier, and theair charged with the atomized water will commingle with the saturatedair from the duct H and be thrown out into the room. The humidistats inthe different rooms can be adjusted so as to secure the same ordifferent predetermined conditions of humidity in the several rooms asmay be required.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination of a humidifier, an auxiliary humidifier which issupplied with humidified air from said first humidifier and is providedwith additional humidifying means, and means controlled automatically bythe humidity of the air in the vicinity of said auxiliary humidifier forregulating the action of its humidifying means, substantially as setforth.

2. The combination of a plurality of auxiliary humidifiers each havingmeans for humidifying air, a humidifier common to the several auxiliaryhumidifiers for supplying humidified air thereto, and means confier forregulating the action of its humidifying means, substantially as setforth.

3. The combination of a humidifier, a plurality of auxiliary humidifierswhich are supplied with humidified air by'said first humidifier and areprovided with air moistening means, and means controlled by the humidityof the air in the vicinity of the auxiliary humidifiers forindependently governin the action of the moistening means the severalauxiliary humidifiers, substantially as set forth.

4:. The combination of a humidifier provided with means for saturatingair at a predetermined temperature, a plurality of auxiliary humidifierswhich are supplied with the saturated air from said first humidifier andare provided with air moistening means, and means controlled by thehumidity of the air in the vicinity of the auxiliary humidifiers forindependently governing the action of the moistening means of theseveral auxiliary humidifiers, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a humidifier provided with means for saturatingair at a predetermined temperature, a plurality of auxiliary humidifierswhich with the saturated air from said first humidifier and are rovidedwith means for moistening the air of the rooms in which said auxiliaryhumidifiers are located, and means controlled by the humidity of the airin the rooms in which said auxiliary humidifiers are located forindependently governing the action of the moistening means of theseveral auxiliary humidifiers, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination of a humidifiers each provided wit air-moisteningmeans, means for supplying uniformly humidified air to the severalhumidifiers, and means for independently controlling the moisteningmeans of the several humidifiers, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination of an air su ply duct, an open-ended shell arrangedwit one end are suppliedlurality of i adjacent to each other whereby theair discharging from the air duct induces a. circulation of air throughsaid shell, and means for moistening the air circulating through saidshell, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination of an air supply duct having an open discharge end, ashell through which air circulates having an open discharge end arrangedopposite and adja cent to the dischargeend of said air duct, a deflectorarranged between the adjacent ends of said air duct and shell fordirecting the air from said air duct and from said shell outwardlybetween the discharge ends of said air duct and shell, and a spraynozzle arranged to discharge water in said shell toward said deflector,substantially as set forth.

10. The combination of an air supply duct having an open discharge end,a shellt-hrough which air circulates having an open discharge endarranged opposite and adjacent tothe dischargeend of said air duct, aspray nozzle arranged to discharge water in said shell toward thedischarge end thereof, and a deflector arranged between the dischargeends of said air duct and shell and having an outwardly projecting rimand a drip .edge for the water depending below said rim, substantiallyas set forth.

Witness my hand, this 28th day of December, 1909.

WILLIS H. CARRIER. Witnesses:

C. W. PARKER, C. B. HORNBEOK.

